Amidst all the Cold War throwbackery here at TAPPED, we've let Iraq slip a little below the radar. What's up now? The Shiite government seems to be cracking down on Sunni leaders. Abu Muqawama has the run-down, but basically it looks like ethnic conflicts are coming to a boil again; via Spencer this article gets straight to the point:
Those on the ground know that because none of the fundamental political grievances underlying Iraq's ethnosectarian conflict have been resolved, the security gains remain fragile and reversible. ...Genuine reconciliation between Sunnis and Shiites remains elusive.
Everybody say it with me: The Surge only works if there is political progress on the ground. There hasn't been much progress on reconciliation, though the Shiite majority seems to have secured its position further. All this underscores the fact that American troops are not a particularly useful tool for securing this kind of rapprochement. The authors of the above article want to link U.S. aid to political progress, and that's a viable idea. But creating a withdrawal timeline and sticking to it will reinforce the message that the U.S. is canceling its "blank checks to the Iraqi government." --Tim Fernholz
